College Kid Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you know that feeling when it's late at night, you have an important paper due the next day, your skin is breaking out from stress, and you REALLY WANT A COOKIE?

... haha... I mean, hypothetically, I'm sure YOU would know that feeling. I mean, I wouldn't. I'm a princess. I am always poised. And my skin is perfect. So perfect. Mmhmm.

But I mean, I'm sure that if you were to hypothetically really want a delicious homemade cookie, and you had kind of limited ingredients, you would ask ME for an awesome-tastic recipe, amirite?

See, living in the dorms and not having a car makes it hard for me to go grocery shopping. Which means that I often don't have things like eggs. Or milk. Or butter. Or brown sugar... Which are things that I always thought were important for a delicious, chewy, chocolate chip cookies.

IT TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG!

College Kid Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes 20 cookies)

2 Cups flour

1 Cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup chocolate chips OR 8 oz chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1/4 Cup water

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp caramel sauce (ice cream topping such as Smuckers)

1 tbsp chocolate syrup (ice cream topping such as Smuckers)

*You can substitute the 2 tbsp caramel sauce and 1 tbsp chocolate syrup for 3 tbsp honey, or 2 tbsp molasses!*

*You can substitute 1 Cup white sugar for 1 Cup brown sugar, and exclude the caramel sauce and chocolate syrup completely.*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.

3. Add vegetable oil, water, vanilla, caramel sauce, and chocolate sauce to the mixture. Knead everything together using your hands until a sticky dough starts to form.

4.  Once dough is completely mixed (there should be no clumps or traces of dry ingredients remaining), add in the chocolate chips. Knead them in using your hands until the chips are evenly distributed in the dough.

5. Drop balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons each) onto a baking sheet, evenly spaced 2 inches apart.

6. Place baking sheet in oven and bake cookies for approximately 10 minutes.

When removing cookies from the oven, they should still look moist and gooey on top, but will be browned around the edges. Don't worry about them being under-baked (since they don't have eggs, there are no health risks!) They will continue to firm up and "cook" on the baking sheet as it cools.

So... these cookies are technically vegan! I'm kind of a dessert snob, and I feel that a lot of times in vegan baking, you can taste that "something" is missing. This is truly not the case with this recipe; they taste just as good as any version with eggs and butter. The water keeps the cookies moist, and the syrup gives the cookies a chewier texture, along with adding richness and that "brown sugar taste". None of my taste-testers were able to tell that these were vegan, and everyone went for seconds!

Look at this yumminess. LOOK AT IT. Do you want them? I bet you do. Go make them yourself, I promise that you'll love the cookies AND you'll impress everyone with your mad baking skillz.

Now, excuse me while I go stuff my face with more cookies. (Daintily of course... I AM Princess Cupcake after all!)